The tailgate in many vehicle truck boxes is too high for many users to readily climb into the box for accessing cargo and the like. Accordingly, many steps are known in the prior art for assisting users and climbing into the pickup truck bed.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,516,997 by Kuznarik et al. discloses an example of a series of steps forming a large ladder structure for access to the truck bed of large commercial trucks. The large cumbersome nature of these steps makes the steps unsuitable for smaller passenger pick up trucks.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,673,922 by Grimes and U.S. Pat. No. 4,191,388 by Barksdale disclose simple U-shaped step structures which are suspended from hinges attached to the tailgate. In order to allow the steps to depend downwardly from the end of the tailgate, the hinges must be located very close to the edge of the tailgate such that the hinges may protrude above the tailgate in the closed position or otherwise interfere with a cover for the truck box. Furthermore, the steps in each instance engage the top edge of the tailgate which may mark the finish of the tailgate causing potential for corrosion or otherwise unattractive damage to the finish of the top edge of the tailgate.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,422,342 by Armstrong et al. and D585,350 by Coletti disclose further examples of steps for a pickup truck tailgate. In each instance, the step is connected to a slide so that the step may be suspended from hinges spaced outwardly from the edge of the tailgate in a working position to overcome some of the disadvantages of the prior patents noted above. The slide structure in each instance however, requires a large housing including a base plate and an enclosure above the base plate to receive the sliding components. The large enclosure above the base plate in each instance presents a trip hazard for a user climbing into the step box as well as requiring large amounts of material for a relatively simple product such that the devices are unnecessarily costly.